April 1, 2004 will mark the 80th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force, one of the oldest Air Forces in the world. To help celebrate, the RMMC is pleased to hold our own ‘group build.’ It’s an opportunity for modelers around the globe to show their interest in the maple leaf.

What is a group build you might be asking? It’s a simple concept that has gained popularity on the web, chiefly through Victoria based ‘www.aircraftresourcecenter.com’ where modelers choose a subject, build their model(s), then show them off when the allotted time is over. It’s fun, it’s simple and there’s no competition.

The Royal Canadian Air Force:

On April 1, 1924 the King’s Regulations and Orders for the RCAF and Pay Allowance Regulations came into effect, turning the post WW I Canadian Air Force into a permanent part of the country’s defense force. Starting with 66 Officers, 194 Airmen and a handful of war-surplus hand-me-down planes, these men performed a number of general civilian duties, including forestry and customs patrols and aerial photography. By 1936, the RCAF had ceased their general aviation duties, which were by now better performed by civilian companies and focused on missions of a military nature. Yet, even as another war in Europe loomed the RCAF was still equipped with obsolete biplanes, like the Siskin and Wapiti, and most squadrons existed only on paper.

September 10, 1939 marked the real turning point for the RCAF. With Canada’s declaration of war against Germany, the RCAF was immediately mobilized and grew very quickly into the fourth largest Allied Air Force. Known as ‘The Aerodrome of Democracy,’ Canada was ideally suited for the training of tens of thousands of aircrew and maintenance personnel needed for the war effort. Thousands of planes, from dozens of airbases flew continuously, performing initial, advanced, multi-engine, navigational, gunnery and bomb training.

Elsewhere, other Canadians joined the fighting in the Aleutian, African, North Atlantic, European and Pacific theaters. January 1944 marked the peak of RCAF wartime strength, with 215,000 men and women of all ranks. 104,000 were in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, 64,928 serving on the home front and 46,272 serving overseas and a total of 78 Squadrons.

Following the war, the RCAF was quickly reduced, almost to nothing. Then, with the Korean War and growing Cold War, Canada rose again to become a valuable member of NATO, NORAD and the United Nations. During this period, the RCAF was among the best equipped, and best trained Air Forces in the world, flying state of the art supersonic fighters, specialized patrol planes and some of the first helicopters in military service. The post-war era also saw the beginning of a Canadian tradition – aerial performers. Acts that included the ‘Red Knight,’ ‘Golden Hawks,’ ‘Goldilocks,’ and the ‘Golden Centenaries’ impressed countless Canadian, American and foreign observers,

In 1968, the Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Army were unified into the Canadian Armed Forces. Under this common administration, the Royal Canadian Air Force ceased to exist. In 1975, the CF Air Command was formed and Canada had an identifiable Air Force once again.

Today, Canada’s Armed Forces have been the downsized drastically through years of budget cuts, yet the men and women remain dedicated to meeting the demands placed on them. Canada still participates in United Nations deployments, including the Gulf War, Balkans and Afghanistan; home front needs, including Search and Rescue, maritime, customs and sovereignty patrols and the training of NATO flight crews.

Here’s the rules:

Since we know that modelers can take months (or even years to finish their models), we’re not going to require you to start at the designated time. We would however ask that you perform the majority of construction between now and March 31, 2004. To enter, or display, all that you need to do is submit a quality digital photo of any RCAF, RCN, RCA, CAF and Air Cadet League aircraft that you’ve built (please check the lighting and focus). Include the subject name, kit manufacturer, scale and any accessories and paints used as well as the completion date. Please also include your name, city and country so we can see where everyone’s participating from. For example:

Sikorsky HO4S ‘Horse’ (1/72nd scale)
Built by: (builder’s name, city and country)
Italeri’s H-19/S-55 kit converted to an RCN ‘Horse’ by removing the longitudinal stiffener along the tail boom. Paints are from the Polly Scale acrylic line and decals were from Belcher Bits.
Completed: (day/month/year).

“But what if you’ve already finished a suitable model?” Of course we want to see it. Send it in, with the same information that we’ve asked for above, but please label it as ‘for display only.’ That way we can keep track of what’s a newly built and what’s an older model.

If you're ready to submit one of your models, please click on the icon below. Keep your files under 1MB. Pictures will be resized to a maximum of 600 pixels in width, so it isn't necessary to send us huge images. Thanks.

Since modeling isn’t the only thing we do, we’ll post your models as quickly as we can, but be forewarned, it might take some time. We’d also like you to consider writing a short article about the models you’ve built for our friend Steve Bamford at www.aircraftresourcecenter.com.

So what should I build?

With 80 years of service, there’s a huge selection of subjects that any modeler can choose from. In many cases these subjects require no modification to the basic kits that are readily available. In others, massive amounts of converting, modifications, even scratchbuilding will be needed to accurately represent the planes in use by our Armed Forces. If you’re interested, Larry Milberry’s book, ‘Sixty Years’ has a huge listing in the appendixes that includes the type and number of all aircraft used by the RCAF and CAF up to its publication in 1984. Milberry has also published a number of great books that are full of fantastic reference photographs. Here’s a taste of the more easily modeled aircraft (based on kit availability).

Avro Anson, Avro CF-100 Canuck, Avro Lancaster, BAe CT-115 Hawk, Bell CH-135 Twin Huey, Boeing CC-137 (707), Boeing Vertol CH-113/113A Voyageur/Labrador, Canadian Car and Foundry Harvard, Canadair (North American) F-86 Sabre, Canadair (Lockheed) CF-104 Starfighter, Canadair (Northrop) CF-116 Freedom Fighter, Canadair CT-114 Tutor, Canadair (Lockheed) CT-133 Silver Star, Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk, de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter, de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou, de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, Douglas C-47 Dakota, Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar, Hawker Hurricane, Lockheed CC-130 Hercules, Lockheed P2V-7 Neptune, McDonnell Douglas CF-101 Voodoo, McDonnell Douglas CF-188 Hornet, North American B-25 Mitchell, North American P-51D Mustang, Piaseki H-21 Flying Banana, Sikorsky H-19/HO4S, Sikorsky H-34, Sikorsky CH-124 Sea King, Sopwith Camel, Supermarine Spitfire, Westland-Agusta CH-149 Cormorant, Vickers PBY-5/5A Canso/Canso A.

As you can see, there’s a lot out there and definitely something to meet everyone’s modeling tastes. However, for the group build we will not accept fictional ‘what-if’ models. So even though the CAF considered planes like the Tornado, F-14, F-15 and F-16 we will not post models of aircraft that weren’t operational with the RCAF/RCN and CAF (this includes paint schemes too please). One exception will be the Avro CF-105 Arrow – national pride still has its place.

Prizes:

We’re looking to round up some sponsors for this little project. “Prizes? But I thought there was no competition in a group build.” You’re right, if we get some suitable prizes donated we’ll take everyone’s name (only one entry per modeler, not per model), put them in a bucket and do a random draw. If you're interested in donating a prize, please contact the webmaster at the link below.

Now, on to the Canadian Air Force Group Build…

Click here to see the Group Build Entries.

Click here to see the Previously Built Entries.

Here's some links to help you along:

Belcher Bits, decals, models and conversions by Mike Belcher of Stittsville, ON.

Leading Edge Models, decals by Dave Koss of Calgary, AB.

RCAF.com, by AEROWARE Aviation Collectibles & Hobbies of Calgary, AB.

The RCAF/CAF in Styrene, by Graham Mansell of Ottawa, ON.

Closure:

As our first Group Build came to a close, the RMMC had the opportunity to share our interest in Canadian military subjects with the general population, when we held our April meeting at the Aerospace Museum. For the afternoon of April 3, museum visitors were able to see a collection of RCAF and CAF (and non-Canadian) models. Thanks to Massimo Santarossa, we had media representation, when SHAW television came out and interviewed several of our club members including Massimo, Paul Holmes, Trevor McTavish and young Chris Rees.